Title: Parliament Speaker Calls for Strategic Overhaul and Equity in National Energy Management
Tehran – In a comprehensive parliamentary session on Tuesday, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, addressed the nation’s energy challenges, outlining a multi-faceted strategy focused on management reform, investment, and equitable distribution.
Addressing Systemic Challenges
The session, which reviewed a detailed report from the Energy Commission, centered on the widespread power outages experienced during the summer of 1404 (2025), alongside issues concerning drinking water, agricultural water, and environmental water rights. Speaker Ghalibaf acknowledged public dissatisfaction, framing the current problems as a complex mix of managerial issues, consumption patterns, and challenges in transmission, distribution, and production.
“The government and the parliament are fully aware of the people’s current problems,” Ghalibaf stated. “Before any other imbalance, the most important issue is the managerial imbalance.”
A Roadmap in the Seventh Development Plan
Emphasizing a forward-looking approach, the Speaker declared that the solutions to these systemic issues are enshrined in the country’s Seventh Development Plan. He revealed that the 11th Parliament had already taken significant steps by approving a long-overdue electricity price increase after years of fixed rates, a move that generated approximately 40 trillion tomans in increased energy sector revenue.
Ghalibaf stressed that strategic investment in production and a national culture of conservation are paramount. “In the domain of production, we must resolve the issue through investment, and in consumption, we must naturally practice conservation. Balancing production and consumption must be our top priority,” he said.
Public Tolerance for Hardship, Not for Injustice
A central point of the Speaker’s address was the distinction between unavoidable hardship and perceived unfairness. He noted that while the public may understand outages caused by external factors like low rainfall and depleted dam reserves—which resulted in a loss of 10,000 to 12,000 megawatts—they will not accept disorder and inequity in how outages are implemented.
“The people do not accept unfairness and disorder in power cuts,” Ghalibaf asserted. “Someone who has obtained a ‘green certificate’ and paid to ensure their electricity is not cut under any circumstances will not accept it. An investor who has put capital into industry will not accept it if we do not provide them with power.”
Critique of Solar Implementation and Call for Precision Management
The Speaker also critiqued the current execution of solar panel installation projects, noting that while the Seventh Development Plan mandates generating 12,000 megawatts of renewable energy, the present methodology has flaws that need addressing before discussing funding.
He highlighted a significant opportunity for conservation, pointing out that over 50% savings are possible in the domain of evaporative coolers. However, he questioned how the private sector could be incentivized to revolutionize 16-20 million units without a clear accounting system for such savings. “This requires precise and detailed management,” Ghalibaf emphasized.
A Call for Executive Action and Institutional Reform
Concluding his remarks, Speaker Ghalibaf called for immediate and transparent action. He tasked the Energy Commission and the Ministry of Energy to work together to delineate a clear, time-bound program based on the Seventh Development Plan. This program must outline specific milestones for conservation, production, and distribution over the next four months, with the Ministry providing guarantees on its execution.
Praising the expertise of the current Minister of Energy, Ghalibaf expressed high expectations for progress. He also underscored the necessity of addressing deep-rooted institutional problems within the energy sector, a challenge that has been discussed for 25 years without a fundamental solution.
“We need a series of institutional reforms,” he stated, calling for collaborative efforts between the government, parliament, and the Parliamentary Research Center to finally devise and implement a lasting strategic solution for the nation’s most critical economic driver.
